That Still, Small Voice
Greetings to everyone, and much thanks for your prayers!
For the last several months, Rebecca has had a nagging desire to check out a little daycare and preschool not too far from us. It's out of the way of main traffic, and unless you know it was there, you might easily miss it. For us, it is very much out of our normal traffic patterns. Still, it caught Rebecca's eye, as did the ever-present background desire to pay it a visit.
Due to the many things pressing up against her, several of these having been building for months, Rebecca has come to her very frayed wit's end. On Wednesday, Rebecca finally decided to follow through with the leading to visit the daycare, hoping it might be a solution to some of her pressures.
After visiting them for an hour or so, and touring the facilities, she enrolled Xavier for four-hour blocks of time two days a week through the month of June. A place in the daycare for infants 6 through 18 months had just opened, the opening lasting through the end of June. The owner of the daycare sensed Rebecca's stress level and bent over backward help out, including waiving several fees.
Saddled with a modest amount of enrollment paperwork, Rebecca headed home. She called me to let me know the situation. I was not too enthusiastic about daycare, for O so many defensible reasons! However, Rebecca provided three strong points which swayed me to at least give it a try.
So, today, we delivered Xavier to his first four hours in daycare. I went along to check out the place and to meet with the staff. I was impressed, and it is not easy to impress me. Openly Christian, they pray over the children and over specific needs as requested. They have a nearly one-to-one adult to child ratio in the 6 to 18 month area. They work with all manner of therapists and take on special-needs children (one of the infants there now is blind). The workers varied in age, but were all lively and full of joy--they loved caring for babies.
So, how did Xavier do? He loved it! He played well with the others his age; he slept peacefully in his crib; he stole the hearts of the ladies watching him (and he stole a graham cracker from one of his playmates). But that is not the most exciting news.
Xavier drank three ounces of formula while there, all in one sitting! That is nearly unheard of. Maybe once or twice a week we get him to drink two and a half ounces, shortly after which he vomits it all back out. He drank three ounces and kept it down, but that is not as exciting as what else he did.
They got Xavier to eat and swallow eight bites of a pureed food fed by spoon! He had a lot more go into his mouth, but only eight confirmed swallows.
Of course, Rebecca asked to know what they did to achieve these miracles. To get Xavier to drink without so much fussing, they swaddled him, waited for him to calm down, then fed him his bottle. He drained it. Rebecca and I have tried this at home, and it works every time! Though we have yet to get him to drink a full 3 ounces in one sitting, his intake is up one half to three-quarters of an ounce every time. We never would have thought of this; Xavier hates being swaddled, even in the NICU he hated it. We stopped the practice shortly after bring him home because he wouldn't go to sleep swaddled; he would cry and wail and scream until released.
The spoon feeding technique was nearly as simple. They gave Xavier a spoon to play with and another worker got him to smile and laugh. When Xavier put his spoon into his mouth, the other worker (who had another spoon loaded up and ready) moved in and swiped a glob of puree on his gums. In a few seconds, after recovering from the surprise of someone sneaking food into his mouth, Xavier moved the food around and swallowed (in some cases he let it leak back out his mouth). Again, Rebecca and I put this more complicated plan into practice. Though we have not had as successful results as 8 swallows, we have had successful swallows. And, Xavier actually enjoys the experience. Glory to God!
Xavier is still shy of his daily intake by a significant amount, but now we have greater hope we have some ways to close the gap, though it is not likely to happen overnight. We have been tracking Xavier's daily intake, which is as disheartening as it is motivating. But with what we have witnessed today, we are encouraged, even re-invigorated!
Using what we learned today, and what other techniques await to impress us, we are working Xavier up from his 15 ounces (on a good day) to a sustained 20 ounces a day. Then, from 20, to 21; from 21 to 22, and up to 30. We are still using the Neocate along with the Neosure Formula, and Rebecca is mixing into his solid foods a high-fat supplement called Duocal. In time, a short time we hope, we want to build Xavier's stomach back up to being able to hold more than four ounces at a time (now, he can safely hold about three ounces).
For Xavier's part, he has two daily goals:
- Make a sustained 20 ounces per day (for now) intake of formula
- No "zeroings" (We have a sign which reads : X puke-free days. Every day he goes without vomiting something up, the number increases. If he vomits, the counter is set to zero, thus "zeroing" it)
There is definitely a thinking gap between medical professionals and the down-to-earth child care-givers, that much was made clear. I am glad for the medical side, but it was refreshing to have such pragmatic simplicity balance it out. We learned more practicality and success in feeding Xavier today than we did from the feeding clinic!
We look forward to what next week will teach us in getting Xavier back on track with his eating habits and desires. It pays to heed that still-small voice which nudges you into doing something.